坐如鐘不如坐立不安 A little fidget may be healthier

For office workers who spend their days working on a computer at a traditional desk, it is fairly old news by now that the medical profession considers sitting for hours a health hazard akin to smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. In fact, a number of studies have found that sitting increases risk of death by all causes even if you have a fairly active workout schedule outside the office. So the question becomes: what can you do about it?

醫學界早就認爲，對整天對着傳統辦公桌上的電腦工作的上班族來說，久坐帶來的健康風險類似於每天抽一包煙。實際上，許多研究表明，久坐加大了各類起因的死亡風險，即便你在辦公室外面積極鍛鍊。那麼問題來了：你能做些什麼？

Few of us have stand-up desks, which is the ideal solution, provided you do not stand all day without taking a break. For those who must sit, an intriguing insight into a possible remedy was included in a study published recently in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine. It looked at 12,778 women in the UK who were followed for 12 years.

我們很少有人有立式辦公桌，那是完美的解決辦法——只要你抽空休息一下，而不是連續站一整天。對那些必須坐的人來說，《美國預防醫學雜誌》(The American Journal of Preventive Medicine)最近發表的一份研究報告爲可能的解決辦法提供了耐人尋味的見解。該項研究對英國1.2778萬名婦女進行了爲期12年的跟蹤研究。

Like previous studies, it found that sitting was associated with a 43 per cent increase in the risk of all-cause mortality, regardless of age. But there was a puzzling group that was not affected by the time spent in their chairs: for those women who sat all day but also fidgeted a lot, the risk of death actually declined.

與早先的研究一樣，該報告發現，久坐與全因死亡風險（無論多大年紀）增長43%有關。但令人困惑的是，有一組研究對象沒有受到她們坐在椅子上的時間的影響，因爲這些女性雖然整天坐着，但她們總是在忙活着什麼，死亡風險實際上下降了。

Could fidgeting at your desk really protect you against heart attacks, even when going to the gym does not? When I put this question to the lead author of the paper, Gareth Hagger-Johnson at UCL’s department of epidemiology and public health, he acknowledged that one limitation of the study was that it depended on the women self-reporting their fidgeting time. Dr Hagger-Johnson also said researchers now need a “better objective measure of fidgeting”.

在座位上忙活真的能保護你不會得心臟病嗎，即便在你去健身房都起不了什麼作用的情況下？當我向該報告的主要作者、倫敦大學學院(UCL)流行病學和公共衛生系的加雷思哈格-約翰遜(Gareth Hagger-Johnson)提出這個問題時，他承認，該研究的一個侷限性在於，它取決於這些女性自己報告的忙活時間。哈格-約翰遜還表示，研究人員現在需要“衡量忙活的更佳客觀指標”。

It turns out that science has actually looked at this question: fidgeting is known to research boffins as “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” or Neat. James Levine, a specialist in obesity at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota has written several papers on fidgeting.

事實上，科學界已經關注到這個問題：忙活被科研人員稱爲“非運動性熱量消耗”(Neat)。位於明尼蘇達州羅切斯特的梅奧診所(Mayo Clinic)的肥胖病專家詹姆斯萊文(James Levine)就忙忙碌碌撰寫了數篇文章。

Dr Levine, author of a recently published book about the dangers of sitting called Get Up!, says studies indicate that people fidget because the brain is signalling to the body to move around more. When they are in an environment that blocks that urge — an office, for instance — “you will not move but fidget”.

萊文醫生最近圍繞久坐風險發表了一本題爲《站起來！》(Get Up!)的圖書。他表示，研究表明，人們之所以坐立不安，是因爲大腦暗示身體要走動走動。當他們身處無法走動的環境中，比如辦公室，“你不能走動，只能忙這忙那”。

The key takeaway of the UK study and others is that small movements that do not amount to physical exercise can be protective to otherwise sedentary office workers.

英國和其他研究的關鍵見解在於，算不上體育運動的小幅活動可以保護久坐的辦公室員工。

Dr Levine suggests keeping small hand weights on your desk to pump up and down at idle moments. He says another good strategy is to put a red dot on your office phone as a reminder to stand up for a moment whenever you finish a phone call.

萊文醫生建議在你的辦公桌上放上小啞鈴以便在空暇時間舉一舉。他說，另一個好辦法是在你的辦公室電話上塗上一個紅點，以提醒你無論什麼時候打完電話都要站一會。

One California manufacturer is now experimenting with adding “fidget bars” underneath school desks, which allows seated students to move their legs idly while listening in class. For the more adventurous, some fitness equipment makers are designing innovative devices that look like truncated bicycle pedals that fit under your desk and let you move your feet while seated.

加州一家制造商現在正嘗試在學校課桌下方加上“抖腿槓”，讓坐在椅子上的學生在聽課的同時隨意活動他們的雙腿。更具開創性的是，一些健身設備製造商設計出一種創新設備，它看起來就像是截斷的自行車腳踏板，可以放在你的桌子下方，讓你在坐的時候活動雙腳。

Personal tech such as the Apple and Polar smartwatches even remind you “it’s time to move” after a fixed interval.

蘋果(Apple)和Polar智能手錶等個人科技產品甚至會每隔一段時間提醒你“是時候動一動了”。

For those of us compelled to sit down all day, there is now scientific evidence of a small but effective way to reduce the damage caused by our sedentary lifestyles.

對我們這些被迫整天坐着的人來說，現在有科學證據表明，有一種簡單而有效的方式可以降低久坐的危害。